Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan

In the Caucasus, the army represents by far the largest unit in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. Baku's paramilitary forces are made from the Border Guard and Coast Guard (5,000) and 10,000 personnel from the Militia (Ministry of Internal Affairs). Nearly half of the Armenian army consists in conscripts whereas in Georgia, this rate falls at 21% (3,750 out of 17,750) and 23% for the Air Force.

Air Forces

Air Forces

With 48 aircrafts, Azerbaijan has roughly the same number of units than Bulgaria, and both counties operate Soviet-era jets (mainly MiG-21s and MiG-29s). However, the serviceability and the combat readiness of the aircrafts remain unclear: the flying time for Bulgarian pilots is for instance estimated to 30 to 40 hours a year, and Bulgarian air capacities have been exhausted along 2014 with units regularly scrambling to intercept Russian jets over the Black Sea. On the other hand, Baku has the largest fleet of helicopters of Transcaucasia. In 2010, Russia sold to Azerbaijan 20 Mi-24 VM Hind-E combat helicopters and 53 Mi-8MT and Mi-17 transport helicopters (SIPRI Arms Transfers Database).

Mi-24VM

Mi-24VM

Navy

Navy

In terms of quantitative sea platforms, Georgia's capabilities are comparable to those of Azerbaijan, Bulgaria and Ukraine and mainly consist in second and third rank units fitted for littoral protection and coastal patrol. Although Romanian naval forces appears twice bigger than those of the previous group of countries, with 4 corvettes and a serial of patrol boats, they are nevertheless only fitted for littoral protection. Romania has furthermore no naval aviation, and cannot carry out air patrol or ASW operations, just like Georgia and Azerbaijan.